Twitter as a reporting tool for journalist

 Looking at the coverage by the three journalists concerning the Lonmin shooting, they look different from each other. The journalists took different angles in covering the whole incident because the first journalist which is Cathy Mohlahlane from Enews did not break the story but then decided to do the aftermath of the incident. She then focused on the court case brought to the miners and the reaction from the police. The mistake I think she did: was to start the story with the court case because she is tweeting to people so they should get a background of what happened.

Again I think she assumed that people already heard about the massacre so she wanted to give update on the whole issue. Twitter is suppose to supply breaking news to the society so Cathy should have broke the story before covering the whole court issue. Looking at her coverage on the court case though, it is well informing because she is giving out all the information out there.

Moving to the next journalist Aki Anastasiou, His coverage was not well informing for a person who does not listen to radio because he was just giving a brief and then saying people should tune in to TalkRadio 702. For a person who does not listen or own a radio it is not informing but for a person who listens to a radio it becomes easier for them to be updated. I love the fact that he was considerate, even though he was not doing the story but he was able to update listeners of TalkRadio 702 and that for me is brilliant journalism.

Poloko Tau the third journalist from The Star newspaper is the outstanding man for this. He started the whole coverage from the strike on its own and gave out all the important details, step by step. Out of the three journalists, I say he is the best because he managed to break the story while it was still “wet” and went on with it and now he is busy with the court proceedings. For me that is an outstanding performance for a journalist and I am proud of him.

Twitter as a reporting tool for journalist is a good privilege and we hold the advantage of utilizing it. Most stories break on twitter and most definitely by journalist so it a privilege to have it as a reporting tool because it makes journalism easier for us and people get informed quickly and stay updated.

CITIZEN JOURNALISM V.S PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM

IS CITIZEN JOURNALISM A THREAT TO TRADITIONAL/PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM?

The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create argument or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. In light of this, journalists are not that threatened by citizen journalism because citizens are not paid to report news.

Furthermore when people read news on facebook or twitter and somehow do not understand or believe them, they buy a newspaper or get an online publication to confirm and that keeps the readability high and journalists are not threatened. Citizen journalism has been there for years and I do not see any bad influence to journalists. Citizens also have the right to be part of the daily news so it is also a stepping stone for them.

Citizens are the source of information therefore they should form pass and parcel of the news circulation. This allows citizens to feel more involved in the community by expressing their opinions, engaging without their social media users and contributing their thoughts and knowledge about a subject. The first thing you do when you see some sort of controversy is to grab your camera, take a picture or video or pull out your cell phone and post a comment on Twitter or Facebook.

Citizen journalism has become significant because it can report news temporarily while the newspaper agencies are recovering from a hack attack. Citizen journalists can quite often be in places where professional journalists cannot get to or may not have access to. For example, a third world country having a natural disaster where all access is cut off, the citizen journalist can report right from the scene. Citizen journalism is important as it lends a helping hand to professional journalists.

In other words, citizen journalism often celebrates the positive aspects of a society which of course rarely appear on traditional, national media. At the risk of praising "good news journalism", I do think this is a significant and pleasing difference between top-down "professional" journalism and bottom-up "amateur" journalism. It does not put journalists at risk, but in some ways it assists them.

From my point of view, I do not believe that citizen journalism is real journalism, I just take it as a piece or source of information because citizens that write are not professionals nor do they have qualifications, so journalists should not be threatened by it. The question of whether citizen journalism is considered real journalism is still up for debate. Some may argue that only paid journalists working for traditional news outlets like newspapers and magazines are legitimate. But most bloggers contend they aren't interested in replacing the professionals, and don't even consider themselves journalists.

MDLULI SHIFTED!

Controversial policeman Richard Mdluli has been moved to the operations division of the South African Police Services, while acting National Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi will assume control of the intelligence and VIP units which Mdluli has been heading. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa says Mdluli will be shifted from his position as head of Crime Intelligence, while investigations into claims of a conspiracy against him are being investigated.

Mdluli will now be working under the deputy national commissioner in charge of operations. Intelligence officials will report directly to Mkhwanazi, which means the acting chief will be seizing control of VIP protection with safeguards Cabinet ministers.
Inspector General of Intelligence Faith Radebe is also still probing allegations against Mdluli, while the Hawks are running a parallel probe. Mdluli has been delayed in a swirl of controversy amid claims of murder, fraud, nepotism and political conspiracies. He was suspended last year while facing murder and fraud charges is separate cases. He was reinstated in March after both cases were withdrawn.

Mthethwa ensures that he has been seen to be acting in response to increasing public and political pressure. But several political parties, including the Democratic Alliance, have criticized the minister, saying he has taken action too late, and that Mdluli should have been suspended and not simply moved to a similar position in a different unit.

New Media Book Review

The first and second chapters of the New Media book by Terry Flew provide an inclusive overview or the widespread of certain forces that keep changing the new media technologies. It entails to people and show them that new media does not only look at forms of technologies but also the social software side of it, like for instance being shaped by social, cultural, political and economic environments in which they are developed and used.

In my opinion, I would say after reading the chapters I was able to see the main aim behind it which was to show the history together with the development of technology. The book is exquisite; it explains how the new media bounds up with the concept of the internet and the World Wide Web. Almost everyone is familiar with the internet and the World Wide Web so by reading this book, one can be able to relate themselves with what is being said by Terry Flew.

New media makes things simple because it has some intriguing concepts that consumers find interesting. The book reveals the significance of developing the WWW and this became more exciting when Marc Andreesen of NCSA developed the mosaic as the first web browser.

RIP THABANG LEBESE

RIP THABANG LEBESE

POSTED BY: ANASTACIA MASHABA
NEWS FROM: KICKOFF

Former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates midfielder Thabang Lebese has passed away.

‘Chillies’, as he was affectionately known in his heyday, was in and out of hospital recently suffering from an undisclosed illness and according to reports he could barely walk or talk when he was admitted to the Helen Joseph hospital a couple of months ago.Lebese, who was 38 at the time of his death, will be best remembered for his days at Chiefs.

He made 220 appearances for ‘Amakhosi’, also coming off the bench a further 20 times, between 1993 and 2000, when he left to join Ria Stars.Lebese moved to Orlando Pirates in 2001 after a brief spell with the now defunct Limpopo side, with whom he resurrected his flagging career.In total, he played 279 top-flight matches over 13 years, but despite his obvious talent he only made one Bafana Bafana appearance in a 3-2 loss to Namibia in an international friendly in 1998.

Lebese admitted in his last interview with KICK OFF a couple of years ago that leaving Chiefs was a “wrong decision”.“Leaving them was a big mistake… I made the wrong decision. I was not supposed to leave Chiefs. I grew up there and I was Thabang Lebese because of Kaizer Chiefs. “But I was angry, because I wanted to play and I was not getting enough game-time and there was some friction between me and the coach, Muhsin Ertugral. “Well, I thought I knew too much! I was thinking, because I’m Thabang Lebese, playing for a big team, I could do anything, but I was wrong,” Lebese said.

KICK OFF in its entirety send our heartfelt condolences to Lebese’s family. Rest in peace ‘Chillies’ and thank you for the memories.

AMAKHOSI WALK VICTORIOUSLY OVER SWALLOWS

 

Lehlogonolo Majoro

POSTED BY: ANASTACIA MASHABA

NEWS FROM: NEWS24

Kaizer Chiefs returned to top form in the Absa Premiership with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Moroka Swallows at FNB Stadium on Saturday night.

A youthful Amakhosi side, inspired by a brace from winger Mandla Masango, had too much pace and energy for the Birds and move to within two points of log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who are in action on Sunday afternoon.

The Birds will be disappointed at having suffered such a loss, but they only had themselves to blame after dominating large portions of the match but failing to capitalise on the chances they created.

Swallows were the better team in the opening quarter, though they only created one half chance for Joseph Makhanya, whose angled drive from just outside the penalty area was comfortably saved by Itumeleng Khune.

On 25 minutes, somewhat against the run of play, Chiefs took the lead. George Lebese played in a good low cross from the left to pick out the unmarked Mandla Masango, whose scuffed shot trickled past the right hand of Greg Etafia and rolled over the goal line.

Swallows almost replied on the half hour mark when Lefa Tsutsulupa brought down a lofted cross with a brilliant first touch and got a quick shot away, but the ball flashed over the crossbar. Seven minutes later Makhanya crashed a long-range effort off the crossbar with Khune completely beaten.

It seemed as if the Birds would draw level before half time, such was the pressure they were creating. However, Amakhosi made it 2-0 in the 40th minute when Etafia flapped at a cross from Bernard Parker and allowed Lehlohonolo Majoro to gleefully turn the ball home from close range.

Swallows started the second half strongly and had a couple of early chances for Siyabonga Nomvethe that went a begging. Had the Birds been able to take just one of them, it may have changed the course of the game.

Instead, just past the hour mark, Chiefs extended their advantage when the excellent Masango netted his second, exchanging passes with Lebese in the penalty area before finishing crisply into the bottom corner of the net.

Lebese almost added salt to the Birds’ wounds just a minute later when he cracked a long range shot against the crossbar, with Etafia once again well beaten. At this stage the home side looked like scoring every time they attacked.

Chiefs took their foot off the pedal in the last 20 minutes or so, though they remained disciplined at the back and made sure Swallows were not able to even sniff the possibility of a comeback.

ONLINE JOURNALISM IN SOUTH AFRICA

Online journalism in South Africa

Advantages and Disadvantages of online journalism

Online journalism is defined as the reporting of facts when produced and distributed via the internet. Online journalism makes everything simple for journalists because they don’t have to go out to the field and get stories but rather access them on the internet which I turn to think saves money and time. For example, when there is an international story happening, it can be easily accessible from the internet. Most international stories break firstly in the internet and journalists get them there rather than having to travel.

Online journalism encourages communication between journalists and the news receivers because they are able to post the comments and give out feedback. It reaches a majority of people because some don’t actually have time to read newspapers or listen to the radio or even watch television, it is fast and informative. About one hundred million people can access the internet knowing that online information is revealed as it breaks.

The disadvantage around online is that the information is not 100% correct because here journalists publish fast facts and don’t verify or accurately report their news. Another thing is that not everyone can access the internet and read the news because of financial purposes and other reasons while some find it boring. In other undeveloped countries, online news are not a first choice because they don’t have access so they prefer to rather listen to radio’s for news or watch the television.



Online news in South Africa (three)

The three news online sites I have visited are not different from one another in a sense that they have almost the same layout home page and their style of writing is also not that different from each other. News24 is one of the news sites I visited and I realized that they start off with breaking news then have politics news or follow up on politics news and the other categories such as sport, entertainment e.c.t follows.

Its blog is always updated on time and has all the current news and the feedback from people is essentially productive. I also visited the IOL and Mail&Gardian blogs and they also look good and their quite informative and reveal news as they break. But again I have realized that what may seem as important news for the other sites may not necessarily be important to the other.

News24 covers almost every sector of news which I think is fair for every person rather than IOL online which covers mostly on the business side. The IOL is a good online site because it caters for every sector, you find your motoring, sports and politics amongst all and their home page is good and has its option right at the top. The last one is the Mail&Gardian which is also an interesting one because it also covers different types of news. The three sites I have visited are great because they have many common things and their colors are designed in a conserved way.